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Character Creation Guide
'Introduction' When you are creating a character, there is more to it than just the visual design of the character. Many people create that visual of their perfect character, but are left with no ideas of who this character is. If they do, they are often trying to find a way to make them the ultimate idol or the ultimate enemy – perhaps you aren't, but it's a common case that tends to make a bland, Mary-Sue sort of character that quickly loses one's interest and lacks story. Some of you will wind up having to build a character around a design, and that's okay – it works. However, in the creation of a character, the important aspects are his or her inner workings. Character design is therefore divided into three parts: ' #Mental #Sociological #Physical 'Mental Design David Freeman, a man who coached countless screenwriters, coined the term "character diamond." The character diamond is a 4 pointed chart that visualizes the rough amount of traits needed for a good character in each of the four segments. If the character diamond can be applied to a character, the character is a success. 'The 4 points of the character diamond:' #'Base Trait '- This is the main trait of your character, be it a positive or negative trait. #'Supportive Trait' - Supportive traits are vital to the way your character thinks and acts, such as their morality or intelligence. #'Fatal Trait' - This is always a negative trait. Think of it as a great weakness, although there can be more than one. This is what gets your character into the most trouble or disaster. #'Hidden Trait '- This is a trait that the character themselves doesn't know about, often leading to unexpected plot twists and situations. Let's set an example with a well-known character. How about Mufasa: *Base Trait - Strong leader. Mufasa is the king of the pride, and that composes much of who he is. *Supportive trait - Care / Wisdom. It's his understanding of the balance of the world and his care for its protection that makes him a great leader, as well as a great father. *Fatal trait - Overly trusting - His fallible tendency to see the good in all people, particularly in family, led to his ultimate demise. *Hidden trait - Soft-hearted / Frightened - Beneath the hard-shelled exterior he is soft, gentle, and frightened at the aspect of losing someone dear. Sometimes, a character's traits are spread evenly, and others, one trait is primarily dominant. Take Daffy duck for instance - he haas other traits, certainly, but he is, overall, a greedy little duck. There can also be characters with 3 traits (lacking the hidden or supportive trait, or two traits are both fatal and hidden, etc), or characters with 5, 6, or more, although one doesn't want to get too cluttered. 'Masks' Not all characters are straightforward. Character diamonds can end up with contradictions, often referred to as a "mask." A mask is a false or feigned trait that the character may or may not be aware of. For example, a known mask to a character can be a con artist with the mask of an honest, law-abiding man. An unknown mask is a person who truly believes they are all-knowing and wise, but in truth are very foolish and gullible. In either case, a mask reveals an inner problem that the character has with themselves. If a character loves who they are, they have no reason for a mask. 'Mentality in Relation to the Race' Now we're not just talking about one group of blanket-slate humans here but an entire world of diverse cultures, different ways of living, and entirely different ways of moving through space. When creating your character traits and flaws, be sure to consider what is important to their race, species, subspecies, and/or breed, and what is even possible. We'll cover this more in the next section. 'Sociological Design' This is a part a lot of people really enjoy here on Dreyrull: designing the background information of the character. There are a lot of questions to ask when developing a character, and if you think of more than what is listed below, then by all means, write more. But these are just a few things to address. 'The Race of Your Character' Here, "race" is labeled as one of the 4 sentient beings of Dreyrull: Human, furr, Lekkir, or aershaa, but this should also take into consideration their subspecies and specific cultures as well. This will greatly impact what your character believes in, how they see the world, and even parts of their personality. 'Habitat' The way a character lives determines virtually everything else in a character's life. A lazy nomad in the harsh winds and struggling climates of the north is not believable - they must be efficient hunters and well-driven to survive. Likewise, a hunter of beasts can't live in a land barren of them. 'Relations' Just like in the real world, a character's relations and upbringing affect their entire lives. Likes, loves, and loathes can all stem from something that happened with, say, a crazy brother. Just look at Disney's Simba from The Lion King - his escapist outlook on life and inner self-loathing all come from his crazy Uncle Scar. Without that uncle in the picture, you would have an entirely different character. 'Occupation / Drive' This doesn't just apply to the two-legged societal characters. Even aershaa have something they do with their lives, be it an ultimate goal they are trying to achieve with a pack or a personal moral they are striving towards. Not every character simply has one, either – an assassin by night can be a painter by day, and likely the two will complement each other in one way or another. 'Alignment' Let's take a moment to look at the classic Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart. Every character has an alignment from their own personalities and morals. There are 9 alignments: *Chaotic Good *Neutral Good *Lawful Good *Chaotic Neutral *True Neutral *Lawful Neutral *Chaotic Evil *Neutral Evil *Lawful Evil The third edition D&D rules define law, neutrality, and chaos as follows (1): Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closed-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, a propensity towards being judgmental, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should. Chaos implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them. Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to follow rules nor a compulsion to rebel. They are honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others if it suits him/her. 'Friends and Enemies' A good character is neither universally loved nor universally hated. Who are their friends? Who are their enemies? 'Magics' While this doesn't strictly fall under the sociological design, it can be a very important part of your character and how they interact with the world. You're going to want to read up on the mage classes to see what suits your character best! 'Questions, Questions, Questions!' Give your character an interview if you have to. You can never know too much about your character. What kind of weapons can they use? What are their hobbies? Favorite foods? What is their opinion on the state of the world? Keep going! Think of anything! 'Physical Design' I'm going to be brief with this section, as physical design is ultimately up to the creator. So let's break this down into a few pointers. 'Color' The colors should be unified and un-cluttered. In most cases, no more than 3 colors and their variations should be used. Too many colors, 98% of the time, is an eyesore. 'Concept' A character should be designed around a base idea, be it a pattern, a feeling, or maybe echoing the markings of certain animals. Come up with a solid idea to build everything around. 'Matching' There is a difference between creative contrast and mismatching. A character shouldn't have stripes on his face, a tribal on his leg, spots on his tail, squiggles on his flank, and rainbows on his wings. Unify the character's markings with a theme that compliments itself. This isn't saying that stripes and spots can't go together, but they need to go together in a harmonious way that is uniform across the character. 'Balance / Avoiding Clutter' There's a ton of exciting features to think about on a character, particularly on an aershaa, but you can't get overexcited. This goes hand in hand with sticking to a unifying theme. If it's an Iceair, combine the spikes and feathers in moderation, and in a way that they aren't competing for space and making the character looked weighed down. Perhaps there's a few spikes on the head and tail with feathers echoing on the wings and arms, or feathers on the head and tail and the Ice's row of spikes on the back. SPIKES AND FEATHERS EVERYWHERE and your poor character isn't going to be able to walk. Imagine how itchy that would be, too! 'Impossibilities' Finally, I need to mention that this is a pseudorealistic RP. If this were a real creature, and if our world really had these features that allowed larger creatures to fly, would ___ be possible? Let's look at a couple examples. Listhrean Waters are small and frail. If they are crossed with an ice, and only inherit their gigantic spikes, that Water would not survive with the spikes allowed to grow to full size. They would be crippled under their weight. Biostones are made of a dense, heavy bone-like material. It is impossible for such a large, heavy thing to grow on a small, thin tail. Blades are flexible, but only to a certain extent. When they grow along the spine of a mutant character, the spine will no longer be mobile. Basically, think logically about any and all features. Other problems include being the wrong colors in the wrong regions - being a dark color in Siyari means your character will be unable to conceal themselves without some kind of assistance. That's it! Have fun creating - I look forward to seeing more of your wonderful characters in the future! ---- 'References' 1. Williams, Player's Handbook D & D design team, Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip (2003). "Dungeons & Dragons player's handbook.'"(Special edition. ed.). Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast. Category:Roleplaying